Fabian Dawson with Baba Mann Singh in Siahar, Punjab

The three were Baba Sarbjot Singh Bedi, convener of the Gurmat Sidhant Parcharak Sant Samaj or the Order of Sikh Holy Men, S. Manjit Singh Calcutta, Chief Secretary, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which oversees Sikh's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Baba Mann Singh head of the Nanaksar Ashram Thath in Siahar, Punjab, the mother temple of the Nanaksar Sikh sect which has hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide including Canada.

The three leaders presented veteran Vancouver-based journalist Fabian Dawson with ceremonial "Saropas" while he was in Punjab earlier this month.

A Saropa (robe of honor) is a distinction of a high order. It is given for extraordinary service rendered to the Sikh community.

Dawson, the senior news editor of The Province newspaper in Vancouver collaborated with the Asian Pacific Post on a series of stories involving Sikhs in Canada.

Last year, he and Asian Pacific Post editor, Jagdeesh Mann, won a Jack Webster award for excellence in journalism.

Dawson was in Punjab helping research film projects with the award winning team of Hugh Beard and Brian Mckeown of Vancouver's Force Four Films when he met with the religious leaders.

"It is a great honour for us to be recognized by the top leaders in Sikhdom," Harbinder Singh Sewak, the founding publisher of the Asian Pacific Post said.